American Go E-Journal » 2017 » August

Andy Liu and Wu Hao undefeated in Masters: And then there were two. After four rounds of spirited play in the 2017 US Open Masters Division, just two players remain undefeated: Andy Liu 1p and Wu Hao 2p. Wu Hao began the day by defeating 2016 Masters champion Bao Yun in a game that looked good for the defending champion until the late endgame, when the margin had narrowed so much that Bao was forced to launch a last ditch — and as it turns out, unwinnable — ko that cost him a large group and the game. In the evening round, Wu Hao forced Ryan Li to resign after just 150 moves. Andy Liu beat Eric Lui 1p in Round 3 and then bested Tim Song 1p in a dramatic game that included a late-game swap of groups. Check the Masters crosstab for latest results and top-board game records.

Tuesday’s Congress coverage: The E-Journal’s live coverage on Tuesday, August 8 begins with a preview of the day on the AGA’s YouTube and Twitch channels at 8:30a PDT, and broadcast of Round 5 of the U.S. Masters top boards starts at 9a on YouTube/Twitch and KGS, with pro commentary starting around 10a. At 2p we’ll broadcast Bao Yun’s “Blindfold Go” game against Ryan Li on all three platforms.

Congress tournament recap coming: Watch the website Tuesday morning for our updates on the Lightning, Youth Lightning, 13×13 and 9×9 tournaments. Meanwhile, check the US Open crosstab for latest results.

Pro game commentaries, Masters Rounds 1-3: Click here to download the following pro commentaries:Jennie Shen 2p on the Round 1, Board 2 game between Bao Yun and AaronYe.Yilun Yang 7p on the Round 2, Board 4 game between Andy Liu and Albert Yen.Shirley Lin 1p on the Round 3, Board 2 game between Bao Yun and Wu Hao.

Response to the four Michael Redmond 9P AlphaGo-AlphaGo commentaries released last week has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic, with nearly 25,000 views so far in just a week.
“I loved the master series, but this is even better,” wrote Alek Erickson7. “I have been waiting for English pro commentary on the self-play games for so long.” And oncedidactic1 said the commentaries are “Really really valuable, both entertaining and enlightening, to hear Michael’s perspective on this game, which I’ve seen a lot of commentary on. I feel like Michael has wonderful insights into where alphago is at.” Bla Bla6 added that “This makes me realize that Ke Jie and the players in the Master series didn’t even come close of testing the limits of AlphaGo.”
Then on Sunday, Mr. AlphaGo himself, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis tweeted “1st #AlphaGo vs AlphaGo Redmond commentary: https://goo.gl/unK6dy amazing game and analysis: ‘AG has invented a whole new opening theory’!”

“If only I could ‘like’ a 100,000 times, it would not be enough,” said From Fear to Trust1, while mmKALLL said “I think my head imploded here. Crazy to think of all the 47 games ahead… Thank you!” And Tokenias3 chimed in with “That dog is cute.”

“Guys, slow down!” pleaded trucid22. “1.5 hour review each day is a bit much. I can barely keep up! Spread out the games a bit.” The next set in the series is in pre-production now so trucid22 and the rest of the AlphaGo fans have some time to catch up. We’ll keep you posted on plans for the next release.

E-Journal Managing Editor Chris Garlock hosts the commentaries, which are produced by Michael Wanek and Andrew Jackson (who created the snazzy introduction).

Iyama sweeps Meijin League: The final round of the 42nd Meijin League was held on August 3. The challenger had already been decided in the previous round, so the “grand finale” of the league may have been lacking in drama, but for the players hovering between demotion and retaining their league places, there would have been plenty of suspense in the day’s play.
In his final game, Iyama Yuta was matched against Yo Seiki 7P, who needed to beat him to retain his place. As it turned out, Iyama demonstrated overwhelming strength in their game and won easily, so he finished with a perfect 8-0 record and Yo, who scored 3-5, will have to start over again in the final preliminary round. Iyama finished three points clear of the field. Usually the margin is just one point or, occasionally two; I can’t recall anyone else winning by three points. What’s more, he had already established this lead in the second-last round. Iyama is really head and shoulders ahead of other players in Japan. What is striking in the Meijin League chart is how little the status quo changed: the new players are out and there’s only one change in the placings from 1 to 6.The first game of the match with Takao Shinji Meijin will be played on August 30 and 31.
Final-round results: Iyama (B) beat Yo by resig.; Cho U 9P (B) beat Ko Iso 8P by resig.; Kono Rin 9P (W) beat Sakai Hideyuki 8P by resig.; Hane Naoki 9P (B) beat Murakawa Daisuke 8P by resig. Players to drop out are Hane, Sakai, and Yo.

Iyama’s winning streak ends: In a game in the Agon Kiriyama Cup played on July 31, Iyama Yuta lost by 1.5 points to Yamada Kimio 9P (B) so his winning streak came to an end on 16.

Ichiriki maintains lead in Kisei S League: One game in the S League of the 62nd Kisei tournament was played on August 3. Ichiriki Ryo 7P (W) beat So Yokoku 9P by resig. That took Ichiriki to 4-0 and continued the sole lead he has enjoyed since the second round. In the fifth and final round he will play Kono Rin, who, on 2-1, is the only other player still in the running. League ranks will affect the outcome, as there is no play-off in the Kisei leagues. If Kono beats Yamashita Keigo in this round, then beats Ichiriki in the final round, then, as the number one player, he will win the league. At this point, Cho U also has only one loss―he is also on 2-1―but, at #5, he is outranked by both Kono and Ichiriki (#4).

AlphaGo book recommendation: In a recent edition of the E-Journal (“Invisible” collects 78 AlphaGo games), there appeared a notice about the publication of “Invisible,” the first book devoted to the games between the AI program AlphaGo and human players. I would like to recommend the book. Its core is the 60-game winning streak set up by AlphaGo, playing as Master, but it also includes other games played at the Go Summit in China. I had the opportunity to proofread about half of these games before publication and it was a real pleasure. Apart from the extraordinary interest of the games themselves, I enjoyed the lucid and instructive presentation by the author, Antti Tormanen. The layout is excellent and the commentaries are clear and accessible. They focus on the innovations of AlphaGo and its dramatic divergences from established professional theory. To look at it another way, these elements of the games constitute the contributions AlphaGo can make to go theory, though it may be a while before its theoretical advances can be fully digested by mere mortals. This book makes a good start in print to that process. In passing, here are two points, among others, that struck me. Very early in the game, AlphaGo plays moves based on its ability to calculate. For example, it plays reducing moves or makes sacrifices that it’s difficult to see human players emulating―they can imitate the moves, but can they make calculations extending to the end of the game while still in the opening? Secondly, it has no ego: it’s content to win by one point and sees no need to crush the opponent. Here, perhaps, humans may not wish to emulate it.A pdf version of Invisible is available online here or email info@hebsacker-verlag.de for details on the hardcover version.

Evening LeagueThe Evening League – the evolution of the Self-Paired Tournament – has gotten a major tech upgrade in its second year thanks to TD Andrew Hall. Hall developed a web app for tracking played games and statistics that anyone can access for tournament updates. “I’ve been running a continuous version of the tournament in the Boston community since last year,” Hall says, allowing him to refine the tournament structure and improve results tracking. Visit evening-league.massgo.org to see the results of the first night of play, and throughout the week to check on player results and statistics. This year there are only four nights of scheduled play, but like last year players may play self-paired games and submit them to the tournament throughout the week.

13×13 TournamentA smaller than usual but still jovial crowd gathered for the 13×13 tournament Sunday evening. TD Jim Hlavka reported a few over 40 players, and expects that the lower numbers this year are a result of the lack of 13×13 tournament at last year’s Go Congress. Table winners: Brandon Zhou 6D, Yin Zhang 2D, Eugene Zhang 1D, Jim Conyngham 4k, Darwin Kim 4k, Maria Espinosa 9k, Josh Johnson 16k.

Women’s TournamentTD Lisa Scott also reported a lower turnout than previous years. However, she concedes that part of this is due to some women choosing to play in the Seniors’ Tournament, which takes place on an overlapping schedule. Regardless, Scott is pleased with the strong field of players, a good number of whom are 4 dan and stronger.

photo (right): Evening League TD Andrew Hall punches the clock.photo(left): Players smile over their tiny boards in the 13×13 tournament.

Monday’s Congress coverage: The E-Journal’s live coverage on Monday, August 7 begins with a preview of the day — and an overview of Congress tournaments with E-Journal Tournaments Bureau Chief Karoline Li — on YouTube and Twitch at 8:30a PDT, and broadcast of Round 3 of the U.S. Masters top boards starts at 9a on YouTube/Twitch and KGS, with pro commentary starting around 10a. Coverage of the Redmond Cup continues on all three platforms at 3p. Starting at 7p our coverage of Round 4 of the U.S. Masters will be carried on YouTube/Twitch and KGS, with pro commentary starting about an hour later.

US Open/Masters crosstabs published: Tournament crosstabs for both the US Open and Masters are now up. If you believe the wrong result has been posted, contact the Tournament Director at Usopen@gocongress.org.

Game records reminder: To get your game records added to the official US Open crosstab, email your sgf files to us at journal@usgo.org. Be sure to complete the game information with both player’s names and the game result. For best results, please send them in by 6p on the day the game is played.photo: checking US Open Round 1 pairings; photo by Chris Garlock

Competitions are underway on all board sizes at this year’s US Go Congress. Official Congress tournaments kicked off Saturday with the Pandanet AGA City League and the 9×9 tournament, and continued Sunday morning at the first round of the US Open and US Open Masters Division.

All players will have a chance to face off in nine other tournaments throughout the week, both rated and unrated, including: Evening League (replaces the Self-Paired), Lightning, North American Pair Go Championship, the Women’s Tournament, the Seniors’ Tournament, 13×13 Tournament, Under-16 Girls’ Tournament, the Die Hard Tournament, and Crazy Go. Youth players have their own full schedule of tournaments as well: The Redmond Cup, Youth Lightning, Youth/Adult Pair Go, Youth 13×13 and 9×9, the Youth Team Tournament, and Relay Go. Stay tuned for updates and results for all these events.

Now in its second year, the Seniors Tournament kicked off Sunday afternoon bringing about 35 players, many of them long-time Go Congress attendees and old friends, together for amicable competition for players over 55. As players gathered amidst warm greetings, many were not surprised to see familiar faces across the board. “Hey Betsy, you’re over here,” called Mark Nahabedian (left in photo at left); “I knew it!” Betsy Small (at right) replied with a smile.
photo (right): Seniors Tournament round one. Front board (l-r): Bart Jacob vs. Steffen Kurz; second board: Peter Schumer vs Miyoko Miyama.
- report/photo by Karoline Li, Tournaments Bureau Chief

The video for GFriend’s new single looks like any other bouncy K-Pop video, except that it takes place in a Korean go club populated with the usual cast of old men hunched over go boards. GFriend (여자친구) has a new album coming out called “Parallel,” and the first single is “Love Whisper” (귀를 기울이면). They filmed the video at the Jongno Kiwon baduk salon outside of Seoul, where the baduk players’ reaction to the dancing, singing pop stars alternates between bemusement and obliviousness as they focus on their games. Thanks to fojiaotu posting to Reddit. The full article is on the AllKPop.com website.- Steve Colburn

Sunday’s Congress Coverage: The E-Journal’s live coverage on Sunday, August 6 begins with a preview of the day — and an interview with “Surrounding Game” filmmakers Cole Pruitt (right) and Will Lockhart — on YouTube and Twitch at 8:30a PDT, and broadcast of the U.S. Masters top boards starts at 9a on YouTube/Twitch and KGS, with pro commentary starting around 10a by Jennie Shen 2P on KGS and Shirley Lin 1P on YouTube/Twitch.
Coverage of the Redmond Cup, featuring top young players, continues on all three platforms starting at 3p.
Starting at 7p our coverage of Round 2 of the U.S. Masters will be carried on YouTube/Twitch and KGS, with pro commentary by Yilun Yang 7P (KGS) and Stephanie Yin 1P (YouTube/Twitch) starting about an hour later.

US Open game records wanted: If you’d like your game records added to the official US Open crosstab, please email your sgf files to us at journal@usgo.org. Be sure to complete the game information with both player’s names and the game result. For best results, please send them in by 6p on the day the game is played.

Record games, get stronger: There’s another way of improving your game at this week’s Go Congress, in addition to the simuls, lectures and lessons. Record games at the evening rounds of the US Masters, as the country’s top players battle it out. The rounds are Sunday, Monday and Friday, starting at 7p and running until 10p or so. No experience necessary but you must have your own laptop with the latest KGS client installed. If interested, email journal@usgo.org.

Got cool Congress photos? We’d love to see and post them! Email your best shots to us at journal@usgo.org and then watch for them on our Facebook and Twitter accounts.

A tournament that began last October culminated in a 3-game showdown Saturday afternoon at the U.S. Go Congress in San Diego.

The Canwa Vancouver 1 team faced Greater Washington in the finals of the Pandanet AGA City League, having topped the A League over seven rounds since October. In the end, Canwa Vancouver 1 prevailed, adding a third City League title to their wins in 2014 and 2016, and collecting the $5,000 top prize.
Canwa’s Matthew Hu 1p (B, second from right) lost to Greater Washington’s Tim Song 1p (W; left) on Board 1, but Canwa’s Ryan Li 1p (B, right) defeated Eric Lui 1p (w) on Board 2 and teammate Bill Lin 7d (b) defeated Yuan Zhou 7d (w) on Board 3 to secure the win for Canwa Vancouver. Cathy Li 1p (second from left) captained the team.

“Each of these players took the maximum amount of time to play,” reports TD Steve Colburn. “They each seemed to be intently thinking during their one hour of main time and played most of the game during byo-yomi. It was very tense at the ending of each game as most of the players were hanging on with only one period of time left.”

The American Go E-Journal’s coverage of the 2017 US Go Congress begins Saturday, August 5 with live broadcasts on both our YouTube and Twitch channels at 2:30p PST with a Congress overview and intro with AGA president Andy Okun and Go Congress Co-Director Ted Terpstra, hosted by EJ Managing Editor Chris Garlock. Then at 3p PST catch the City League finals with Jennie Shen 2p, hosted by Andrew Jackson. After the finals, Garlock will host a wrap-up and preview with the directors of “The Surrounding Game,” which screens Saturday night at the Congress opening. And be sure to follow us on Twitter for live tweets from the Congress site in San Diego.
photo: Steve Colburn preps game recorder laptops on Friday; photo by Chris Garlock